“Mmmm. Which reminds me. Why?”
She saw the question mark form on his face before he verbalized his confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean why did you, you know, choose me? Why do you like me? You can have any girl you want, I mean look at you—I’m serious Nicholas,” she reprimanded him as he smiled a killer grin, pretended to toss his hair as if preparing for a photo.
His face held a faint smile as he said to her: “Sydney, you’re beautiful. What can I say? I’m shallow. You caught my eyes...”
“I’m not beautiful Nicholas and we both know it,” she interrupted him. “Everyone knows it.”
His facial expression struck her almost as much as her words seemed to have struck him. It was as if she had punched him in the stomach. His face reflected hurt, every trace of playfulness disappearing.
“Well, I’m sorry Sydney, but I didn’t get that memo.” He sighed. “You
are
beautiful. Especially since you don’t know it.”
She changed gears.
“Okay, when did you see me for the first time, and what made you notice me?”
She could hear the desperation in her own voice but couldn’t help it—she needed to hear from his own mouth what about her was worthy of taking note, even though her original intention was to find out more regarding the possibility that he was involved in her attack.
He looked at her, examining her face for a few seconds with an intense yet contemplative look.
“Well, one day, I was headed north, walking towards my class, and you were headed west some ways ahead of me and I saw that beautiful head of hair, all wild and curly. I didn’t remember seeing such a head of hair before so I examined you a little more closely and realized you looked somewhat familiar—I guess I’d seen you on campus before, but you didn’t register then. This time you did. I noticed your face—such quiet beauty there. Such a delicate, soft, feminine face. I mean I still didn’t get a good look, but you looked like such a serene person, so self-contained. You were lovely then, and you’re still lovely now. I didn’t remember seeing you before, but I sure couldn’t help noticing you after. I also noticed you were never with anyone, male or female...besides Maria of course.”
“You noticed her then?”
Of course he had to see Maria, who wouldn’t notice her?
“Only because she was with you. Sydney, why do you find it so hard to believe that you are worth noticing? By yourself?”
She lowered her head, unable to face him and his accusatory eyes.
“And you know what?” he continued, “I looked at you and thought: ‘there’s a girl who needs some fun in her life. I hereby make it my duty to show that girl a good time.’”
“Did you really think that?”
He smiled.
“Not really.”
“Well,” she decided to retort, “I looked at you and said: ‘there’s a boy who needs some discipline and structure in his life. But I’m not getting involved in that mess.”
He laughed.
“You do like to stay in your boxes, don’t you?”
She was thrown off guard.
“Sometimes boxes are good. Especially when you aren’t born into money and privilege like some people I know.” She ignored his faux sound of hurt. “Structure is what takes some of us through life, the only way some of us can reach our goals.”
She looked him in the eyes.
“So you’re sure that’s the first time you saw me?”
“Pretty much,” he replied.
She felt relief settling through her.
“What is it Sydney?”
He was examining her.
“Nothing,” she said. “I just...I think I need to relax—I’ve been reading too many thrillers or something.”
He looked like he was about to question her further, but she was saved from his potential cross-examination by a knock on the door.
Nicholas shouted his consent and Samuel’s kind face appeared.
“Your mother requests your presence.”
“What? Why? Where is she?”
“Downstairs, sir.”
“What the hell does
she
want?” Nicholas muttered to himself. Then he turned to Sydney. “I don’t know why she didn’t just come up, but I’m going down to see what’s up. This should be quick. I’ll be right back,” he said.
***
As Nicholas descended the last set of stairs, his mother’s beaming face came into view. She looked like a cat who’d just swallowed a canary.
Nicholas started feeling uneasy.
“Nicholas darling, I have a surprise for you!” she said in a singsong, playful manner.
Nicholas almost found himself smiling back, so infectious was that strange yet enchanting smile of hers. But his own near-smile peeled away when he saw what made her so joyful as Amber filtered into view.
“Honey look who stopped by! It’s our old friend!”
Evelyn’s smile looked real this time. It reached her eyes, making them almost vibrate with energy. Her perfect eyebrows arched in a way that made her face take on a fiendish expression.
Evelyn grinned while almost pushing Amber forward.
Amber was smiling too, hers more mysterious and frightening. He looked behind him to double-check that Sydney was not there.
“Amber!” he said, uncertain what to say or do. He was wallowing in so much discomfort that he almost didn’t see his mother gesture to Samuel, but he thought nothing of it, his attention on Amber’s green eyes, holding him in their cobra-like gaze.
She surprised him by running up to him, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek.
“Nicholas my darling, you haven’t called in so long—I’ve almost missed you!”
Then she laughed.
Nicholas was so confounded that it took a few seconds for him to regain his footing.
“Amber, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in what, a year?”
“Actually, six months, remember? We had lunch at that Italian restaurant over the Christmas holidays.”
The steps behind him didn’t register until they stopped, and he saw the women in front of him focus behind him. It was then that he noticed Sydney, escorted by an apologetic-looking Samuel.
She continued down the stairs until she reached him.
“Um, Amber, meet my girlfriend, Sydney. Sydney, Amber—a friend of my mother’s.”
Sydney simply stared at Amber while Amber laughed.
“A friend of your mother’s—you’re so funny Nick. It certainly wasn’t your mother whose butt I kicked in tennis. Or who took me to lunch the same day. Or who kissed me goodbye!” She smiled up at him then turned to Sydney and stuck out her hand, still smiling. “Hi Sydney, it’s nice to meet you. Although I have to admit, I honestly thought you were the help at first!” She giggled. “Nicholas, you didn’t tell me you had gotten a girlfriend.”
“I didn’t think I had to,” he muttered.
“Really? Well, it would have stopped my calls, I can tell you that.”
She stopped smiling and her face took on an earnest expression.
“Nicholas, I’m a reasonable woman and I certainly have no shortage of options.” She shrugged casually. “I guess I gave you more credit than you deserved.”
She turned back to Sydney and gave her a gentle smile, different from the one she had on before. “It was nice to meet you Sydney. I wish you two the best.” Then she turned to Evelyn. “Evelyn, nice of you to invite me over for dinner but I really must be going. And your son, well, he has made up his mind it seems. You probably should leave him to find his own path.”
“Oh I’m sorry, I don’t remember asking your advice dear.”
Evelyn’s eyes focused on Amber.
Amber took it in stride.
“Sometimes unsolicited advice is exactly what we need. Good night everyone,” she said, turning to leave.
Evelyn turned toward Nicholas who could feel his eyes narrowing as he looked at his mother, rage boiling within him.
He grabbed Sydney’s hand and said: “Good night. Mother,” through clenched teeth as he headed back to his room, ignoring her cry of: “I’m just looking out for your best interests dear!”
Nicholas strode on, his anger eventually giving way to fear as he wondered how Sydney took it all. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
He expected her to scream at him as they reached his room and closed the door, to yell and tell him what a scumbag he was. But she remained quiet for a few agonizing moments, as if still absorbing the information. Then she turned to him.
“Nicholas, what was that about?”
“Oh that?” He scratched his head. “That was just, that was...”
“Weren’t you seeing me over the Christmas holidays?”
“Yes, but I went on a date with her before you and I started going out.”
She waited a few seconds.
“I guess you think that’s enough explanation?” she said.
“Come on Sydney, it’s not a big deal.”
She smiled a scary smile.
“Couldn’t you have mentioned her recently? You had the opportunity after all. I mean, even if you didn’t see fit to mention it at the time—which I understand—we’ve had time since. I just recently asked you about previous girlfriends and relationships...”
“Yeah, but that’s just it—I don’t consider her a girlfriend or anything like that. It’s not like we did anything.”
“So you didn’t really kiss her then. Your mother hasn’t been pushing you two together, and she has never been in this house before just now.”
“Yes, but look—I just don’t see it as important because I don’t have any feelings for her! I mean sure, I took her to lunch after we played a tennis game but that was it! I never saw her after that day—it was only one date! And yes, Evelyn’s been pushing for us to be together, but I don’t care—I want you! Only you!”
His escalation of emotion seemed to calm Sydney down.
“So you haven’t been hiding her,” she said, eyes averted.
He realized then her true fear—that Amber was his real girlfriend, and he had been seeing them both unbeknownst to each other.
She thought he was like Eddie.
“To tell you the truth, I had completely forgotten about her.”
She looked at him quickly.
“You forgot?” she asked, skepticism lacing the question.
“I honestly did. Some things slip my mind like that, especially when they’re not important,” he emphasized.
“But that wasn’t unimportant...”
“It was to me.”
Sydney looked down.
“But how could you forget her? I mean, she’s so pretty!”
He nodded.
“Yeah, but she’s not really my type. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Sydney was quiet for a few moments.
“This may sound kind of weird, but I actually liked her towards the end there,” she said.
“Yeah, she was...something. Especially that part about you being the help.”
“Okay, that was bad. But she was lashing out of course. You hurt her feelings.”
“I guess. I guess I handled it all wrong.”
Sydney laughed.
“Yeah, you did,” she said. Then she was quiet again, disconcerting Nicholas once more.
“Hey, I want to play truth or dare,” she said, looking at him strangely.
“Um, okay,” he replied. “Sounds like fun,” he said with heavy sarcasm, rolling his eyes.
“It’s your punishment. I’ll go first: truth or dare.”
“Dare of course,” he said, smiling.
She seemed unhappy with his choice.
“Okay, I dare you to tell me the worst thing you’ve ever done.”
“I believe that’s cheating. But if you insist...let’s see—it would have to be in boarding school with those friends I told you about. We sealed a few people up in their room once. Wait, that’s not the worst.” He laughed. “One time one of the students left for some reason or other—funeral or something. We emptied his room, put down wet paper with cress seeds on it so in a few days, the floor looked like grass. Then we—” he chuckled, “—we got a couple of rabbits and set them loose in the room and when he opened it, some were eating the grass...” he couldn’t help laughing at the memory. “Holy shit that was funny. You should have seen his face! Boy did we get in trouble for that one, but it was worth it.” He started to get excited. “I guess peeing in someone’s shampoo bottle was pretty bad too but that guy was a total jerk; he deserved it, I promise. And we used to glue...”
She held up her hand.
“That’s it? These are truly the worst things you’ve ever done?”
“As far as I can remember,” he replied, grinning. “I’m sure there are worst things—what, you think I’m a criminal? Nothing hardcore—just misdemeanor pranks. Not sure I can say the same about Winston though—he went on to...bigger things.” Nicholas felt his mood darkening. “Anyway, my turn. Truth or dare.”
Sydney sighed.
“Truth.”
“You want to tell me the real reason you want to play this game?”
She sighed again.
“No, I don’t.”
“Cheater...”
She threw him a sharp look. Then she quickly morphed it into something more pleasant.
“I just...I want to get to know you more. The deeper, darker side of you...”
“And we have to play this stupid game to do it? And what darker side are you expecting? Sydney, I don’t understand what it is with all the questions. Just spit it out, whatever’s on your mind.”
She was shaking her head.
“I can’t. Because although I’m asking, I don’t want to know.”
He was about to respond when he saw her raise her hand to stop him again.
“Please don’t push. It will all be revealed soon—I’m sure of it.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Evelyn’s singsong voice wafted over to Edward.
“Oh Edward...”
Edward turned to face his mother, not quite ready to hear what she had to say. He didn’t trust her tone. Once he saw her face—the mischievous glint in her eye, that wry smile—he knew he would be proven right.
“Yes mother?”
He made a conscious effort to turn the corners of his mouth up and hoped he didn’t look demented with effort.
“Why do you say it like that? Edward darling, I just thought you’d be interested since what I have to say involves that half-Mexican ex-girlfriend of yours, but since you’re not interested...”
“Mother, please don’t play games. What could you possibly have on Maria?”
Evelyn affected a wide-eyed innocent look.
“Edward really! I have nothing on her. I just wanted to tell you that I met an ex-boyfriend of hers the other day.”
Edward nearly choked on the air.
“Her ex-boyfriend? Mother, that doesn’t make any sense...”
“Well, it’s one of Nicholas’s old friends dear! Isn’t that interesting? Oh, but she slapped him something silly when she ran into him...”
“What?”
Once again Edward felt shock rippling through him; Evelyn hadn’t made something up, or made a mountain of a molehill after all. He figured only an ex-boyfriend would be fit to receive such treatment.
“Mom, who is this guy?”
“Brandon something or other.”
She shrugged, looking a little bored now, as if she had only come to let off some of her own steam by creating some in him, and now the transfer of emotion was complete.
Edward tried to make sense of the thoughts racing through his head and he finally settled on one of them: he needed to find Nicholas.
He headed to Nicholas’s room where he met him on the bed watching television with Sydney.
Nicholas glanced at him.
“I guess I can come back later,” Edward said.
“No. You wanna talk alone?”
He turned to Sydney and whispered something to her.
Sydney got up and left the room.
Nicholas folded his hands.
“So Eddie, long time no talk. How are things with you, Lily, Cindy and Maria? Oh wait—I forgot Maria’s no longer in the juggle. How are Lily and Cindy? Got them to agree to be sister-wives yet?”
“I don’t feel like I should be making such a choice right now. Anyway, that’s not...”
“And why not? Don’t you think it’s kind of hypocritical considering, if I remember correctly, Maria’s flirting bothered you?”
“I don’t feel it’s in my best interest to make any big commitment anytime...”
“Why? Because the one you really want you don’t want to commit to? Because you’re leaving room to pull her back in? Listen Eddie, no matter how many women you decide to date at the same time, they won’t magically equal Maria.”
“Look, that’s not what I came here to talk to you about all right? That girl’s got you watching too many damn romance movies or something. What’s up with Evelyn?”
“What, you mean me telling her off? You should have heard Allison trying to stop me; she’s so sweet, trying to make excuses for her. Sometimes I wonder how such an angel came from such a devil.”
“Nicholas, come on. Stop being so hard on her.”
“I’m being hard on her? Since when are you so protective of Evelyn? You never liked her either...” Nicholas’s voice trailed off. Then he found it again: “Wait a minute—come to think of it, none of it ever bothered you, did it? You never held any of it against her—you’ve never spoken a bad word about her.”
Edward sighed.
“What would be the point? No use getting bogged down with negative energy. Move on bro, move on.” He took a breath. “Anyway, that too, is not what I came here for. Nicholas, what the hell is mother talking about? What’s this about some Brandon guy and Maria?”
His brother looked to the side briefly.
“Oh that. Well, I don’t really know what that was about—I’m waiting for Sydney to tell me. Maria sure slapped the hell out of him, you should have seen him.” Nicholas started laughing. “I mean I felt bad for him, but he probably deserved it.”
“So this is the same Brandon you used to hang out with in boarding school right?”
“Yeah, and you know how we were back then. He was probably a jerk to her somehow.”
Edward regained control of his breathing and took a few moments. He decided to just voice his concern.
“You think—you think she still has feelings for him? That that’s why she reacted so violently?”
Nicholas suddenly looked smug.
“Oh, so that matters to you?”
Edward folded his arms and looked around the room, his eyes resting on one of Nicholas’s photos of the four of them. “You know it does Nicholas.”
“Do I? Not with the way you’ve been acting.”
“God we’re back to this again. Well, I
have
decided Nicholas. And when did you get so...”
“Have you? Did you really just make up your mind for real this time? Because of this new information?” Nicholas guffawed. “You know, it actually amuses me because you’re so decisive about everything else. I think this is just another case of you not wanting someone else to get the better of you. You want to remain number one in her heart right? That’s what this is really about isn’t it?”
“Nicholas you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Edward breathed a deep sigh. “I love Maria, I do.”
“Could’ve fooled me. Oh wait—you did. You fooled all of us! You’re good.”
“Nicholas stop it, I’m trying to tell you something here.”
All of the affected amusement left Nicholas and he stared at him, waiting.
Edward sighed again.
“We both know she doesn’t quite fit in our world.”
“And Sydney does?”
“Come on, you and I both know you’re expected to get everything wrong.”
Nicholas’s eyes averted, making Edward realize his words had him.
“Nicholas I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant...”
Nicholas shrugged, lifting his head again but he no longer looked him in the eyes.
Edward decided to continue.
“Well anyway, I can’t go against our parents like you. Our standing, this legacy—it’s all I’ve got okay? I can’t risk any of it. You know our money’s our only source of comfort Nick.”
“No, bro. Not me anymore.” Nicholas stood up and still not looking at him, said: “It’s just you now.” Then he got up and started heading for the door as if about to leave. Edward figured he was going to fetch Sydney.
“I’ll get her,” Edward said, stopping him.
“Game room,” Nicholas replied, turning back toward his bed.
***
On his way to the game room, Edward was still wrapped up in thoughts of Maria. At no point in time during their relationship did she mention this Brandon fellow—where could he have come from? If she had always been in love with him, then surely she would’ve said something about him at some point. But perhaps she deliberately hid him for that very reason—she didn’t want to let on that she still felt for him, and it was certainly a smart move on her part. Still, something about the whole situation did not sit right with Edward. He was hardly ever wrong about anything and he was pretty sure she was in love with him, truly, madly, deeply. Therefore, any feeling she would have had for this Brandon guy would have dwindled, perhaps disappeared. At the very least, nothing he had done in the past or present would have roused her to hit him.
Edward thought and thought about it, suppressing a strong desire to confront Maria. Nothing was making sense—unless Brandon really had done something abominable to her, and if so, he definitely needed to know what it was. Yes the only two people who knew the real story were Brandon and Maria, and he wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with either at the moment. Edward didn’t imagine himself approaching Brandon; after all, his feeling was so strong that he had hurt Maria in some way, he might give him an encore strike across the face. As for Maria, he was pretty sure she didn’t want to talk to him anytime soon.
Then a thought occurred to him, and he was surprised he had missed it before: not only was Sydney likely to know, but he was comfortable speaking with her, and even if she had a fierce loyalty toward Maria and he couldn’t get the details he wanted, she would let on just enough to alert him to the nature of Brandon’s offense.
It could only have been fate leading him to her now.
When he got to the game room, he saw her practicing hitting the balls on the pool table. She was terrible.
“Hey Sydney, can I ask you something?”
He saw a mask of caution come over her face.
“Sure Ed, what’s up?”
He forced a laugh.
“I heard about what happened the other night—something about Maria slapping one of Nicholas’s friends?”
He saw her go rigid.
“Yeah, what about it?”
Edward laughed again.
“Do you know what that was about? I just can’t imagine Maria just hitting someone out of the blue. It sure makes for a funny visual though.”
He waited as she cast her eyes downward. She was clearly calculating what to say and how much. She finally looked up, her face relaxed. A slight smile even rested on her lips.
“Oh, he was an old boyfriend. You know Maria—such a wild cat. No one gets the best of her! You’re lucky
you
walked away unscathed,” she joked, poking him lightly and appearing to genuinely smile as she started to head past him.
He pretended to laugh with her.
“So that’s all it was then,” he said. “Pretty funny stuff.”
She glanced quickly at him, so quickly, he almost wondered if he had imagined it.
“Of course!” she said. “What else do you think it could have been?” She rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive wave. Is that all?” she asked. She looked him straight in the eye for the first time since the conversation began.
“Yeah...unless you want to tell me more?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing more to tell. Anyway, Nick’s probably waiting for me, I should go.”
She waved and was gone. He watched her go, silently thanking her for giving him what he wanted. Whatever Brandon’s crime was, it was not negligible in the least.